Toys, life and people

Too ‘cool’ for school

After a fairly long (and busy) absence hello again. I’m looking out the window at the likely prospect of the snow staying for a few days and that got me wondering if they’ll close the schools next week. Parents tend to respond to this notion with more than a hint of trepidation, at the thought of trying to keep their wee scallywags amused over the next few days. Meanwhile teachers are perhaps breathing a sigh of relief, though the fact that they’ll may have to squeeze an extra few days worth of the curriculum into the coming term may diminish this relief somewhat.

However a whole pile of children are watching this snowfall with baited breath with an anticipation close to Christmas. They know that if this weather keeps up they may wake on Monday morning, reluctant to climb out of their cosy beds into the chilly day only to hear those magic words called out by mum or dad ‘No school today’, at this they pull the covers back over and snuggle in, as they contemplate a day of sledging, snowball fights, watching TV, hours of uninterrupted play with some favourite toys (or computer games) or curling up with a good book.

That list is pretty close to my favourite things to do on a snow day as a child, it’s probably not that different from anyone else’s. But we change a lot when we grow up, this morning my wife (Hazel) and our boys were looking out the window full of excitement at the cascade of snow falling outside but all I could think about was that I would have to traipse through it to get to work. It’s just typical snow, not a heavy flurry, not a blizzard by any means, on my walk up to work I didn’t even notice the cold all that much but as adults heading of to work we seem inclined to have a moan about something which in years gone by filled us with hope and awe. I’m feeling a bit guilty now about being all ‘bah humbug’ about the snow. Hazel’s got the day off today, maybe that’s why it was so easy for her to enjoy it, if it’s still snowing tomorrow I’ll do my best to get into the snow day spirit.

Unfortunately, for now, it looks like I’ll be sitting in a quiet shop whilst everyone else heads out to enjoy a Saturday’s (perhaps slightly slushy) sledging. Maybe that’s what really bothers us: the fact that we don’t get to enjoy these things as much as adults. We have things we’re supposed to be doing at work and unlike a holiday where someone else may have filled-in for us, a snow day more often than not just means a back-log of work, or at the very least we might get out of the swing of things. This responsibility and awareness of things that need done is probably the origin of the dark cloud of humbuggishness which follows adults around as the snow piles up. The other thing that may bother us is the notion that we may have to take time off to be with the kids whilst they’re off school, but aside from the prospect of lost wages, I find this worry a little harder to sympathise with, an extra bit of time with the kids isn’t a daunting prospect for me.

I live just down the road from my work so the chance of me getting snowed off work is pretty slim, but I’ve been there in the past with other jobs and I’ve experienced most of these anxieties at some point. Maybe those moments of worry were unfounded, the back-log will be there sure but for that little patch of time we’ve got the chance to be part of a snow day. The snow day will happen whether we are with it or against it, maybe if we try and remember just what we enjoyed about them in the first place it would be easier to take these days for what they are; guilty chilly little pleasures.

I always wonder what people think about these posts, for this one especially it would be nice to get some comments: What did you used to do with a snow day? Why do you think we moan so much about the snow as adults but sing its praises as children? What kind of things do you do to stop your kids getting bored when they’re stuck in the house all day? Anyway thanks for reading, hope to hear from some of you and enjoy the snow (if you can). (I’m off to play with the new teenage mutant ninja turtles figures that we just got into the shop today)

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6 comments on “Too ‘cool’ for school”

Well as a child seeing the snow fall gave me this warm, excitement bubbling in my tummy.. I still get this now! I’ve always been a Snow Baby! But I’m a SAHM so my worries of getting to work are none, I’m at work when I wake. But with a Hubby who works away I have the worry of him getting to and from work but also the fear that if anything goes wrong I’m alone and I need to deal with it alone. I needed food this morning so had to drive to Tesco, to take the pram and buggy board would have been impossible! I felt such a sense of achievement when I arrived home with shopping and no bumper hanging off!
And to entertain the kids.. Pfft one is currently folding socks from my washing pile (she asked to!?) The other watching a DVD. We are going to make a snow man when it starts snowing again!
Also the reason I think we moan about it as adults more is because we can see the hazards or potential hazards as a child hazards don’t exist the adults deal with that rubbish!
Enjoy your ninjas!! X

You may be right about the hazards, even the wee ones. Couldn’t care two jots about scarves and gloves when I was wee but a few bad colds as you’re growing up and suddenly it would be like going out naked once the weather gets like this. We probably pick up so many fiddly habits of safety and health that something as chaotic as snow just looks like a pile of potential dangers rather than a pile of fun.

I still have a sense of childlike wonder at snow. I don’t know if that says too much about me though. When we had all that snow and ice a couple years back, I spent a happy few days using the empty car park as a massive skid pan, and kept popping out to practice my handbrake turns. Living near the coast growing up, we never got much snow, so it always feels like I’m making up for lost time.

I think people consciously or not, just like to complain about things. In the news, we are constantly reading about delayed flights, old people dying, schools closing, the economy suffering etc. etc. whenever more than 3 flakes fall, so that kind of pervasive drip drip has got to have some kind of effect?

Inclined to blame the media too, though the reports coming out from down south are often hilarious, from what you see in the news you would think they’d never heard of a shovel and some grit down there (though I say this fully acknowledging the fact that the news folk will have searched far and wide for the most harrowing story they can find about 3 inches of snow just to fill pages/air time, so I’m viewing the situation through a tinted lens)

My goodness you do go on a bit, at least you have lots to say He He! Just have a GLAD day. I was a dare devil when I was a child, skating across a frozen dam. Didn’t even think of the fact I couldn’t swim. We would play lots of games in the evenings when we had no tv reception. Great fun too topped off with hot chocolate before falling into bed.